ABSTRACT
Objective: To assess the incidence, 5-year survival rate and identify the prognostic factors for survival in a cohort of patients with recurrent/ refractory epithelial ovarian cancer in Siriraj Hospital. Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of 140 patients with primary recurrent / refractory epithelial ovarian cancer who received their treatment at Siriraj Hospital between October 1998 and December 2006. Incidence, 5-year survival rate and potential prognostic factors for survival were identified. Statistical analysis was by SPSS for Windows version 11.5. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were computed and a multivariable proportional hazard model (Cox) was applied to assess the prognostic significance of the different covariates. Results: The incidence of recurrent/refractory epithelial ovarian cancer when compared to total new cases of epithelial ovarian cancer during a 1-year period was 33.62%. The 5-year survival rate for the cohort was 47%, whereas the median overall survival was 4.91 years and the median survival post recurrence was 2.5 years. Of these patients, 64/140 (45.7%) have died of disease. Seventeen factors were evaluated for prognostic significance for survival, on multivariate analysis, only the tumor free interval (TFI) (P = 0.016) and CA 125 at the time of recurrence or refractory (P = 0.02) retained prognostic significance. Conclusion: The incidence of recurrent/ refractory epithelial ovarian cancer when compared to total new cases of epithelial ovarian cancer is about one third. This cohort had a prolonged median overall survival and satisfied a 5-year survival rate. The significant prognostic factors for survival in a cohort of patients are the tumor free interval and CA 125 at time of recurrence or refractory.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate prevalence and intensity of menopausal symptoms, knowledge towards daily life and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) among natural menopause women in Bangkok. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, descriptive study. MATERIAL AND METHOD: One hundred and sixty two natural menopause women who attended the health seminars or exhibitions except topics about menopause and HRT in Siriraj Hospital from March - June 2005. Targeting women were asked to fill out the structured questionnaires. Data concerning personal history, menopausal symptoms, knowledge of menopause, HRT and daily life in menopause were collected. RESULTS: A total of 148 questionnaires (91.4%) were completed for the analyses. Of 148 women, 141 (95.3%) had menopausal symptoms. The most common and most severe menopausal symptom was muscle and joint pains (84.5% and 23.0%, respectively). The majority of the women understood correctly regarding knowledge about menopause issue and daily life during menopause (80.6% and 89.2%, respectively). Although 51.1% of the women showed their knowledge about HRT correctly, only 8.1% were currently using HRT. The main reasons for this low percentage of HRT use were ability to tolerate the menopausal symptoms (49.0%) and lack of correct knowledge about HRT (48.9%). CONCLUSION: The most common and also the most severe menopausal symptom in natural menopause women was muscle and joint pains. Most of them demonstrated their correct understandings about menopause issue and daily life in menopause and half of them demonstrated their correct understandings about HRT.